Did you ever make a promise to yourself when you were a kid?
Did you keep it?
I grew up in the 80s. It was a glorious time when consumerism boomed, and marketers figured out how to advertise to kids during Saturday morning cartoons. There was a lot of bike riding, Dairy Queen stopping, and arcade playing. It was a good time—just like Stranger Things.
OK, maybe not just like the show … but parts of it.
Anyway: the promise.
One Saturday morning, I was watching cartoons, as usual, when my dad came in and asked to turn the channel to college football. It was nice of him to ask; he didn’t have to. It was his television, and I was five years old.
I, of course, said no. I was watching CBS Storybreak (or whatever).
He, of course, changed the channel and invited me to watch college football with him (because he was a great dad).
I wasn’t into it. I was into the cartoon. I was going to miss out by watching a sport I didn’t really care about (at that time). I think he said something like, “you’ll change your mind someday,” but I didn’t believe him.
In fact, I made a promise to myself that morning. I would always like cartoons. I would never grow out of them for football, and surprisingly, I’ve always held on to that. For real, that happened when I was five, and I’ve thought about that moment for thirty-eight years.
I like watching football, by the way. Thankfully it doesn’t get in the way of any of my favorite cartoons these days, mostly because Saturday morning cartoons don’t exist anymore, and also I can watch them on demand any time I want.
If you can remember a similar promise you made to yourself, hit me up on Twitter. Comments are disabled here.
PS: I’ve been watching Shrill on Hulu lately. Big fan. Reminds me of an updated Austin Stories from MTV back in the day. Only with a clear point of view and character progression.